MICA Gateway Student Residence
The opening of the Gateway, an innovative mixed-use student residence facility designed specifically to meet the needs of artists, will be marked with a community celebration on Sunday, August 24, 2 – 4 p.m. Located at the intersection of Mount Royal and North avenues, the Gateway illustrates MICA’s leadership and ongoing commitment to student life and professional development, the revitalization of the North Avenue corridor, Baltimore’s cultural district and the Station North Arts and Entertainment District. The Gateway’s unique design, which includes a drum-shaped, multi-colored glass, concrete, and steel residence wing and a translucent glass studio/residential tower, continues MICA’s commitment to design excellence on a campus that combines new construction with adaptive re-use of historic structures. It is the first major architectural landmark visible when entering Baltimore from the north on Interstate 83. With its landscaped public plaza, the Gateway creates a dramatic northern entrance to Baltimore’s Mount Royal Cultural District, and is the northernmost anchor for MICA’s campus.
The Gateway continues MICA's commitment to engaging Maryland-based architects and contractors. Project architects were the Baltimore-based international architectural firm RTKL, which kicked off the design process in November 2004 with a young designers competition for its annual firm-wide design conference. Conceived by young architects for use by young artists and designers, the Gateway was designed to provide a dynamic facility combining residence life, professional development, and student life programming for artists and designers. The result is an exuberant building with unique and inspired design elements: a seven-story, translucent-glass studio tower with natural-light artists' studios, the BBOX performance space for cross-disciplinary performance art and exploration, and the College's largest exhibition gallery.
The building's progressive use of color and perforation, combined with dramatic interior and exterior views, results in an animated, exuberant, and energetic space that connects student life and work with the larger community. The building’s dynamic public spaces offer numerous opportunities to showcase student work and the creative process of artists and designers. The building’s café and vibrant, landscaped plaza encourage community interaction and engagement in the arts. The building also offers a new home for MICA's Joseph Meyerhoff Center for Career Development, where students and alumni will have easy access to career counseling, a database of internships and job opportunities, professional development library, recruiter visits and workshops.
As the northern anchor for MICA's campus, the Gateway invites the community into the dispersed clusters of buildings that characterize the MICA campus. Its design offers glimpses into the inner workings of the College’s mission of educating artists and designers to engage in serious studio practice. "The Gateway Building communicates MICA's values," said Doug McCoach, former Director of Planning for the City of Baltimore and now a vice president at RTKL. "At the street level, the building succeeds in its goal to connect campus and community. Above the street, it engages those who pass by and invites them to learn more. Edges exclude; Gateways connect. Baltimore is fortunate to be home to an institution that defines it’s boundaries through the connections it fosters."
